The Three Lions begin their campaign in Brazil on Saturday, June 14 against Italy, before meeting La Celeste five days later.

Black Cats boss Poyet, who is from Montevideo, has reminded England that his national side will resort to some of football's darker arts if it helps them in their quest.

It was at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where star striker Luis Suarez announced himself on the world stage with a blatant handball to deny Ghana a place in the semi-finals.

Suarez was sent off late on for the offence, but Asamoah Gyan missed the resulting spot-kick, and the Uruguayans eventually went through on penalties.

The Mirror quotes the Sunderland manager as saying: 'In England, you thought [Suarez] was the villain of the last World Cup because he handled the ball on the line in the last minute, but what I am about to say is very normal for me and I hope you take it well.

'I know that, for you, handball on the line is cheating, but it’s not for us - it’s part of the game. If I’m the last man and I pull your shirt as you go past me, you go down and I get sent off, is that cheating? No, it’s not - you take a red card as the last man. Fine. Our reaction is the same as Suarez’s handball.

'We don’t know what all the fuss was about. He saved it, he was sent off, it was a penalty. For us, it’s worse when you get away with something that nobody sees, like punching someone off the ball. Should Suarez say, ‘It was handball, send me off’? No, we don’t do that. Everyone saw it. Uruguay will do whatever it takes to beat England. If I accept you’re better than me, I lose. How can I?'

England conclude their World Cup preparations with friendlies against Ecuador and Honduras on June 4 and 7 respectively before flying to Rio de Janeiro.

Paul Gorst

A sports reporter for the Daily Mirror, Paul divides his time with Mirror Online alongside Sports Mole and TOPPS Kick. Paul has been a football writer for around five years and has had his work featured by the likes of Mail Online, LFC.tv, the Liverpool Echo and Mercury Press agency amongst others.